


umbra bellum

by strangr_kid



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect, also mix of book + movie canon + personal hc, basically they're brought over to be used as child soldiers in stead of so they can integrate, i'm gonna wait until people/things have come up in the story to add their tags, king adam kinda sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangr_kid/pseuds/strangr_kid
Summary: a pit of shadow has appeared in the northern mountains of Auradon and the creatures crawling out of it don't seem friendly. King Adam doesn't want the youth being sacrificed to an enemy they know nothing about, so he looks to the Isle of the Lost for "volunteers"oran over complicated child soldier au
Relationships: Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil
Comments: 24
Kudos: 48





	1. first sighting

The Isle of the Lost was a disgrace. The streets were paved with more garbage than stone and the people had more scars than skin. It was hard to find walls that hadn’t been tagged and everyone knew painting over someone’s tag would start a fight. It was a city that never slept because if you let down your guard you’d regret it for a long time. 

Even so, the island had its share of safe havens if you could find them. At that moment, Mal was in one. On the upper floor of a warehouse nobody paid attention to, there was a room with one window and a door that couldn’t be opened. The only way in was a convoluted path across the roofs of ten buildings that she had carved deep into her muscle memory over the past year and a half. She was lying on a mattress on the floor, holding her cheek while Jay rifled through their small drawer of medical supplies looking for something to cover her wound. Eventually, he stood up and walked toward her with a small piece of fabric and some duct tape. 

“Fuck.”

“Maybe if you didn’t get hurt so often we’d have something else left.” Jay sat down on the mattress and pulled Mal’s hand down as he pressed the fabric to her face.

“Maybe if they gave us actual medical supplies we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

“Mallory Bertha Themis, please save the righteous fury for after a cover the knife wound on your face. You know I don’t have to do this, right?” Mal huffed and glared at Jay but went silent as he carefully placed the makeshift bandage over the cut on her face, “Now, do you wanna tell me why you were in a knife fight?”

“Ginny Gothel is so far up her own ass she can’t see who she’s talking to and I took her down a peg. Her fragile ego couldn’t take that I was right and never learned how to use her words so she pulled a knife. That’s not my fault.” Mal sat up on the mattress and raked her hand through her hair, waiting for Jay’s response. 

“Did you hit her back?”   
  


“Obviously, I just knocked her jaw hard enough to get her off me so I could bale. Wasn’t in the mood for a full-on fight.” Jay gasped overdramatically, putting a hand on his heart like he was scandalized by the thought.

“You? Not in the mood for a fight? What would your mother think?” Mal tackled him onto the mattress.

“My mother’s big curse didn’t do anything for 16 years, she’s more into dramatics than immediate results.”

“Fair, now can you get off of me? I actually need to go soon. I’m not in the mood to get beat tonight so I need to head to the market and steal some more shit.”

“Have fun, I’m gonna hang here for a while.”

“Wait until someone’s here before you get in another fight.”

“Sure.” Jay shook his head and climbed out the window. 

Mal picked up a book that had been left on the floor. Romeo & Juliet. Evie had started reading it after they found it on the weekly boat from Auradon but hadn’t had time to finish it. Mal didn’t want to go home yet so she sat back down on the mattress and leaned against the wall then started reading. 

~ 

“King Adam, there’s something coming up on the sensors in the mountains to the north.” 

“What is it?”

“We’re not sure. It seems like some sort of… festering energy. It’s not anything we’ve seen before.”

“So you have no idea what it is?”

“I just sent out some scouts to do some reconnaissance and report back as soon as possible. They’ll be back within the hour.”

“Good, I want to be there for the debrief.”

  
“Of course Your Highness.” The Head of Defense nodded to the king and walked away, frantically poking at his small tablet.

An hour later King Adam, the Head of Defense, and a few other officers sat around a round table as four scouts presented their findings. A picture of what seemed to be a pool of black was projected on a screen at the front of the room. It looked as if a shadow had become solid. The next pictured showed small creatures made of the same solidified shadows. It had curly horns, four-fingered hands with sharp claws, and solid white eyes that seemed hazy like they were staring at nothing. The picture changed one more time to show several of the shadow creatures building a hut of some sort using fallen branches and pieces of shadow. One of the creatures was looking directly at the camera, baring its sharp teeth. 

  
“We called out to them in an attempt to communicate and they turned hostile, growling at us and moving closer with intent to attack.”

“So what you’re saying is they’re dangerous?” King Adam questioned.

“From what we can tell, yes, we just don’t know how dangerous.” The Head of Defense stood from his chair and cleared his throat.

“I believe we should start forming some sort of in case of the emergency squad to fight this threat if necessary. We will send another scout group to try and retrieve a sample of this substance so we can run tests on it and start a training program based on our findings. King Adam, do I have your permission to put out a call for enlistment?” King Adam stared at him for a moment before responding.

“No, I have a better idea. I don’t want our young people to endanger themselves fighting an enemy we don’t know anything about. We can recruit some of the children from the Isle of the Lost. Offer them a better life as a reward for their service.” Silence fell over the room.

“Are you sure Your Majesty? We have no way of knowing whether those children are trainable.”

“But we know they’re desperate, right? We can make them trainable. Start with four or so, test training methods on them then bring more over as we find out more about these shadow beasts. Pick the ones that seem hardest to train. It’ll only get easier after them”

“Okay, um, alright, we’ll send a car over immediately.”

“Meeting dismissed. And William, I want you in that car.”

~

A voice rang out over the island like it came through a speaker system the Isle didn’t have.

“All people under the age of 18 must report to the town center effective immediately.”

Mal looked away from her book and pondered whether she should follow the instruction and after a second her curiosity won over her issue following orders. She put the book back where it was and climbed out of the window.    
  


She saw Carlos and Evie already standing together at the edge of the circle that had formed around the limousine that seemed to have come from Auradon. It was light purple and bore the insignia of King Adam. 

“What the hell is happening?”

“I have no idea, the dude hasn’t even gotten out of the car yet,” Carlos said as he pulled at the sleeves of his battered black leather jacket.

“What happened to your face?” Evie asked.

“Knife, it’s fine, Jay helped me out. Do you know where he is?” 

“No, I haven’t seen him.” Evie hit her hand against her hip a few times mindlessly before grabbing hold of it and forcing herself to keep still. 

As the door to the limo started to open Jay appeared from seemingly nowhere and slung an arm over Carlos’s shoulder, raising an eyebrow as if to ask what was going on. Carlos looked at the ground, a brush of pink on his cheeks. Before he could say anything, the man from Auradon finally started to speak. 

“Hello all, my name is William, I am Auradon’s Head of Defense. I am here to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. If you come with me and train to fight a threat to our kingdom you will be allowed to live out the rest of your days on the mainland.”

“Since when is it  _ our  _ kingdom?” Mal yelled from her position at the back of the crowd leaning against what is technically a coffee shop, though what it sells would barely pass as coffee.

“Excuse me?”   
  


“Since when are we a part of the wonderful kingdom of Auradon? We’re no more than a garbage dump for you and you know it. Now that you’re in danger you want our help but you can stand to send more than scraps here when you deprive of us of our basic needs.”

“Mal, are you sure about this?” Evie asks quietly.

“I’m not missing an opportunity to call their bullshit.” Evie nodded

“Before you ask for our help, prove to us why we should help you,” Evie spoke strongly.

“How do we know you’ll keep this promise? You’ve treated us like shit since we were born, why should we believe you’ll stop?” Carlos adds.

“Why shouldn’t I pull that fancy car of yours apart and find a better use for the parts?” Jay barks with a laugh. William eyes the four of them through the gap the kids in front of them had formed once Mal had spoken up.

“What are your names?”   
  


“Mal.”

“Surname?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Who is your parent?”

“Maleficent, Mistress of All Evil.” 

“And the rest of you?” 

“Jay, son of Jafar.”

“Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen.”

“Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil.”

“The four of you, please come forward,” None of them moved, “I am not asking, come forward.”

The four of them walked toward him in sync, Mal at the front, Jay in the back, Carlos and Evie flanking the center, like they were walking into battle.

“I want you to come to Auradon and train with me.”

“No,” Mal said shortly.

“That’s not an option.”

“If this is such an honor, why do you need to force people into joining.”

“Because you are the children of vile creatures, your blood is tainted so you can’t think right. You all have thirty minutes to collect your things before my guards force you into the car. Understood?” Mal and Jay glared at him and held their ground. Evie and Carlos did the same, but with more visible hesitation, “Go.”

The four split to their homes and found bags that they started to fill. Mal changed into her sturdiest coat and tightened the purple laces on her duct tape covered combat boots. She shoved an old spell book she took from her mother and various small weapons into her bag with her few clothes. Carlos kept most of his things at their hideout so his mother couldn’t take them so he really only grabbed his bag and a few clothes at home. Evie frantically threw all her makeup and jewelry into her bag like it would disappear if she wasn’t fast enough. Jay had more knives than shirts in his bag along with every hair tie he’d stolen since he started growing his hair out.

They met up at the warehouse with ten minutes to spare. Carlos got there first and took the extra time to shove various tools into his backpack. Once they’d all arrived, there was a moment of silence before-

“So what the fuck are we gonna do?” Carlos asked.

“Go to Auradon, show them we’re untrainable, end up back here,” Jay says with a shrug.

“Bad plan.”

“Not a plan, just what’s gonna happen.”

“We could break out and, like, live in Auradon.” Evie proposed.

“Where would we live? Nobody would want us around.” Mal cracked her knuckles idly. It was quiet as they each thought.

“Wait, what if we play along until they trust us then use this to get a bunch of kids of the Isle?” Carlos said excitedly, his eyes bright.

“Play along how?”

“We don’t have to make it easy for them, just be a little softer than we normally are. Act like we’re starting to break so they’ll come to get more people and we can all break out together. Start a settlement or something.” 

“I’m not opposed to trying that. I still think we’re gonna get sent back cause two out of the four of us are physically incapable of taking an order but I’m willing to at least try,” Jay nudged Carlos. Evie nodded along. Everyone stared, waiting for Mals’s answer. She crossed her arms tight against her chest and scowled for a minute before Carlos’s pleading eyes broke her.

“Fine, I’ll try. But this isn’t gonna work.”

“Great attitude Mal!” 

They made their way to the town center, barely getting there on before William followed through on his threat.

“Good, you’re here. The backseat is for you.”

“Wait!” A small voice called. Dizzy Tremaine ran up to the car and pulled Evie into a hug, “If you don’t come back I’ll kill you with my old scissors. The ones with all the rust on them.”

“Diz, I wouldn’t do that. Don’t get to hurt while I’m gone. I expect a beautiful gown ready for my return,” Dizzy laughed wetly but quickly covered her tears, looking composed before she’d even fully disconnected from Evie. No weakness on the Isle, even someone as young as Dizzy knew that. 

Evie patted her on the head and waved goodbye before climbing into the backseat of the limo. Carlos and Jay followed. 

“Just because we’re coming, doesn’t mean we’ll cooperate,” Mal shot at William.

“Of course, miss,” He said with a condescending smile. She spit on his shoe and followed her friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first descendants fic + my first fic in a while so be nice please!! I hope you like it. I'll put up chapters when I finish them so sorry if there's a wait lol. Also please comment!! I'd love feedback - bryce


	2. new recruits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> introductions/calm before the storm

Evie hugged her bag close to her chest like it would be taken if she didn’t hold it tight enough. Her nails dug into the skin on her arm. After a few minutes, she noticed she’d reopened a cut she’d gotten at some point and shifted to press her hand over it so nobody would notice. She scanned and found Mal stubbornly staring out the window, maintaining her scowl. Evie nudged her knee against hers and gave her a small smile. Mal smiled back but the venom remained. Evie knew it wasn’t directed at her but that didn’t mean she liked it. Carlos was leaning into Jay who was trying to act like he wasn’t blushing. Carlos looked like he was about to fall asleep but was trying very hard not to. 

“How much sleep did you get last night?” Jay whispered.

“An hour? Two?” Carlos whispered back.

“Why?”

“Cleaning day,” Jay nodded and resumed his post as the silent watcher and let Carlos act like he was awake. 

A small compartment with four sandwiches opened and the four of them devoured the food hastily, not really caring what was in it, just knowing it was better than anything on the Isle. As Evie wiped the remains from Mal’s face with a piece of cloth, the small window between them and the driver's compartment opens. 

“we’ll arrive in about five minutes. Try to act presentable,” and the window closed again. 

“I get the feeling he didn’t propose this solution,” Carlos says as he swallows his last bite. 

“Clearly since he thinks we’re the scum of the earth,” Mal huffs. 

“I mean, is he wrong?” Jay chuckles. 

“No, but he has the wrong reasoning. We’re scum in our own right, our parents don’t deserve all the credit.”

“All my mom did was teach me how to do makeup while she held a lighter under my foot.”

“Mine didn’t even teach me how to clean, I just had to figure it out.”

“Our parents weren’t even that good at making us into their evil protégés or whatever. We got rotten by ourselves” Jay adds. 

The car stopped at the front of a military base. it was massive and made of light brown bricks. The windows were all tinted and the parking lot split into roads that led to various fields filled with tanks and planes. William and his driver stepped out of the car and opened the door for the kids. Mal stepped out first, followed by Evie, then Carlos and Jay. They were met with the face of King Adam, flanked by a series of military officers. The King was dressed in a somewhat frilly blow coat paired with muted gold shoes. Evie stifled a laugh at his outfit while Carlos let out a sharp laugh that could have easily passed as a cough if he was questioned. 

“Greetings! Welcome to Auradon, I am King Adam, it’s my honor to welcome you. I’m sure you children will work hard and enjoy your time here at the Oswald military base. Officer Alexandra Dowling here will show you to your quarters in the training sector. You will begin training in the morning and be given information on the enemy as we get more. Before you’re off what are your names?”

Before they could speak, William began to introduce them, emphasizing their parents' names like he was trying to impress the King. 

“Nice to meet you all, train hard. Your kingdom needs you .”

~

“I hate him.”

“He’s the king.”

“That just makes me hate him more. ‘ _ Your kingdom needs you’  _ bitch shut up I don’t care!”

“Mal, try to go at least three days before you’re arrested for treason,” Carlos begged tiredly.

“This will be your bunk.” Officer Dowling interrupted them loudly as she stopped abruptly in front of a grey door with a small window that looked like a porthole. She opened the door and stiffly motioned for them to enter. 

“As there are only four of you, we don’t want to waste rooms by splitting you up by gender, just know that if anything inappropriate takes place there will be harsh consequences and you will be split up immediately.”

“What’s with the gender shit?” Mal whispered to Jay.

“I dunno, maybe they’re trying to avoid pregnancy?” 

“No side conversations. You will listen to your superiors, understood?”

“Sure, whatever,” Mal tightened her arms to her chest.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jay mimicked a salute and loaded his words with sarcasm.

“Boys, each take a bed on the right, girls on the left. You may take a seat once you’ve chosen,” All of them silently placed themselves near one bed but refused to sit, “I’ll need your full names for your ID.” She pulled out a pen and a small pad of paper and waited. 

“Just put Mal.”

“I need a full name.”

“No, you don’t. I don’t have documents so what’s the point? I’m just Mal.”

“We need your full name so you can have documentation in the future.”

“I don’t want documentation ever,” Officer Dowling was steaming.

“Cadet, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Or not at all and the four of us can go home.”

Dowling walked over to Mal and pushed her against the bed, knocking her down. From her position above she held Mal’s hair tightly in her fist.

“You will learn respect or you won’t see your home again.”

“What happened to getting to stay in Auradon as a reward? Now it’s a punishment? Make a choice and stick to it,” Dowling pulled her up off the bed so she was standing then kneed her in the stomach and threw her to the ground. 

“Full. Name.”

“Mallory Bertha Themis,” She choked out as she pulled herself off the ground. 

“Next.”

“Carlos Oscar De Vil,” 

“Evelyn Ceridwen Grimhilde.”

“Jay Alwazir.”

“Middle name?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Don’t lie to me, cadet.”

“Middle names aren’t really used in Agrabah, so why would I have one? Not all cultures follow the same traditions. Unless you’ve never left your little bubble Officer,” Dowling looked flustered and angry but scribbled Jay’s name on the paper. She took a deep breath and put her pad away.

“We don’t fully understand what you will be fighting yet. What we do know is that the creatures are some form of dark magic manifestation.”

“Creatures? How many?” Carlos asked.

“Don’t interrupt me. We don’t know how many or what they are. They appear to be emerging from a pit of solid shadow in the mountains. You will train here to fight them. You’re training will shift as we find out more about what exactly you’re fighting. You start tomorrow at 0600 hours. You will start with a group physical test followed by individual testing. Your uniforms will be provided in the morning but there are sets of loungewear for each of you to sleep in tonight in the chests next to your bunk and a bathroom through the door at the back of the room. Sleep well, you’ll need energy tomorrow,” With that, she marched out of the room and locked it behind her.

As soon as the door was shut, Evie flopped onto her bunk.

“The blankets are so soft. There aren’t any holes!”

“I hate that woman so much.”

“We couldn’t tell,” Carlos deadpanned as he pulled the light blue t-shirt and white sweatpants from his chest. He started to pull his shirt off to change and Jay wolf-whistled from his bunk. After Carlos pulled the new shirt over his head he turned to Jay with a light blush on his face, “I’ll slit your throat.”

“I can’t believe they didn’t check us for weapons,” Evie added as she hung her jacket on the edge of her bunk. 

“For some reason, they think we’re helpless children who should be grateful that they’re saving us from ourselves or something.” Mal spat.

“And they still treat us like scum. Choose a complex. Are you saviors or gods?” Jay laid down on his bunk and spoke essentially to the air.

“What if they try to cut my hair,” Evie held her hair tightly.

“We won’t let them,” Mal said calmly. Carlos sat down on her bed and silently ran his hand through her hair before starting to braid it. Evie’s breath started to even out and her shoulders relaxed slightly.

“I know we said we’d try to go along with them so we could, like, manipulate the situation, but I don’t think I can physically do that.” Mal scanned the room again then shoved her bag under the 

“Yeah, I hate these self-centered motherfuckers so much. I vote we change plans to just try to get back home as soon as possible. Find a way out or convince them we won’t be helpful,” Jay sat up.

“I second that.” Evie and Carlos met eyes and sighed.

“Fine, but we don’t do anything major without prior discussion,” Carlos ties the braid in Evie’s hair and waits for Jay and Mal’s agreement which came quickly if agitatedly, “Now can we please go to bed? 0600 hours means six in the morning.”

“Okay, I’m definitely killing Dowling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no editing we die like men (but if you see any issues please tell me lol) - bryce


	3. evaluation part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If your gonna be child soldiers, you've gotta know how to fight. The kids are heavily underestimated.

A shrieking alarm blared and a groan rang through the bunk. The Isle’s schedule had shifted hours back over time, so 9 AM was considered an early start. You were more likely to see someone who hadn’t gone to sleep yet at six than someone who’d just woken up. 

Officer Dowling stepped into the room accompanied by a young man in an army uniform holding what looked like clothing. Officer Dowling cleared her throat as the four recruits climbed out of bed slowly. Once they were all standing, she motioned for the man with her to pass out the clothes and began to speak. 

“These will be your uniform whenever you train. We will provide extras, and they should be worn any time you are outside of this room. Change into these then line up outside the door to be taken to breakfast before your initial physical testing. Make haste.” 

Mal pulled the light blue camouflage pants on as Evie pulled Carlos’s belt tight. 

“I hate that this shirt is comfortable.”

“You should put your hair up,” Jay called from the bathroom as he tied his into a bun at the base of his neck. Evie has redone her braid already. Mal hesitated but shoved her hair into a hair tie she found near her bed. 

“I wonder what kinda food they have.” Carlos wondered as they all stepped out the door. 

“20 coins it’s better than Isle food.” 

“Jay, I know you don’t have any coins.”

“You didn’t see me pack my bag.”

“You didn’t have any coins to pack, daddy daddy doesn’t let you keep them.”

“Wow, rude. I have been nothing but kind to you, and this is the treatment I get.”

“The first time we met you stole my entire backpack.”

“I was running late!”

The young man who’d brought them their clothes earlier turned the corner and whistled sharply to draw their attention, “This way to the canteen.”

The four of them followed, cautiously excited for a taste of Auradonian food. They were seated in a small cafeteria with only a few tables and instructed to go get food from the bar when the bell rang. They all stacked their plates high with fruit and waffles and bacon. It was mediocre at best by Auradonian standards but to then it looked like a feast of kings. As the group shoveled the food into their mouths, Evie maintained composure, eating pleasantly with her fork and knife. Mal tapped her arm. 

“Queenie’s not here,” Evie laughed humorlessly and took a slightly larger bite but didn’t shake the air of formality that always took over when she had to eat. Evie are about half of her portion while the others cleaned their plates entirely. Once they’d returned their trays, Officer Dowling appeared with a teenage boy trailing behind her. He seemed cocky and oblivious, walking in leisurely, confident strides. His blond hair was curly and styled and he wore a blue tracksuit that seemed too extravagant for the situation. 

“Your first evaluation will be combat. We want to know if you can fight. You will be sparring with Chad Charming, son of Cinderella and Henry Charming. He is not trained in military fighting but is a top athlete at Auradon Prep so we believe him to be an adequate fit for this test.

“Hello, pleasure is all yours, I’m sure. I won’t go easy on you, so don’t get you hopes up.”

“Is everyone on this continent an arrogant asshole?” Carlos whispered to Evie.

“So far the data shows that to be the trend.”

“Follow me to the training room.”

~

The training room was all gray and black. The floor and walls were padded and a storage unit held various weapons. Chad took his spot on one side of the floor and Dowling asked who wanted to go first. 

“I will,” Jay immediately offered, “Is this a bare-hands kinda fight or can I grab something from that box?” Dowling laughed.

“Sure, you can take a weapon if you think you need it.” Jay could hear the condescension in her voice but took the opportunity to grab a simple short sword. The toy boys took starting positions and Dowling counted down to begin the fight. 

Chad threw the first punch, a simple jab, and Jay caught it with his left hand, wrapped his right arm around Chad’s upper arm, avoiding cutting him with the sword, and flipped him onto the ground. Chad squeaked as Jay straddled him and held the sword to his throat. Evie, Mal, & Carlos cheered for a moment before Dowling clapped her hands together loudly and pulled the sword from Jay’s hand then motioned for him to stand on the far end of the mat, away from his friends. 

“Alright, not the cleanest take down but effective. Evie, you go next, and since Jay has proven weapons unnecessary you will not be using one.”

“Yes ma’am,” Evie readied herself as Chad stood up and pulled himself together for the next fight. 

“Shouldn’t you have gotten a girl to fight her and the other one?” Chad asked. 

“Nobody else volunteered so we’ll simply have to weigh it differently for the girls in our evaluations.”

Evie looked back at the others quizzically and was met with shrugs. Auradonian customs seemed to allude all of them. Evie turned back and righted her position. 

Chad started with the same jab and Evie dodged, pushing it to the side and pushed him back by the chest before dropping down and sweep kicking his legs out from under him. Once he was on the ground she placed her foot on his chest triumphantly. She walked to the side and high-fived Jay. 

“Did i do that kick right? I feel like my heel was different then when you showed me.”

“Did it knock him down?”

“Yeah?”

“Then you did it right,” Evie giggled and allowed Jay lightly. 

Chad looked angry while Dowling looked stunned. 

“I suppose we won’t have to weigh it differently then. Carlos, you’re next.” 

Mal patted his shoulder as he walked away and he tried to look confident. 

As Chad threw his jab again, Carlos dodger back and forth sharply, alternating between ducking down and moving side to side before throwing a few punches that landed lightly on his torso. After keeping this up long enough for Chad to look out of breath he ducked and pushed his shoulder into Chad’s side, knocking him off balance before tripping him, knocking him onto his back for the third time. Chad sat up and pushed his hair out of his face with a huff as he rose from the floor. Carlos waves jokingly as he joined Evie and Jay and pretended not to lose his breath as Jay sling his arm around him. 

“Nice job, scrappy,” Jay whispered into his ear and he shivered. 

“I’m skin and bones, scrappy’s the only way I can fight.”

“I know you can punch harder than that.”

“Not worth the bruises.”

“Fair.”

“Mal, you’re turn,” Mal smirked to herself and cracked her knuckles before raising her fists across from Chad. 

Before Chad could throw his jab, Mal punched him square in the jaw then grabbed him by the head to knee him in the stomach. As Chad wrapped around himself, Mal shoved him to the floor and stood over him, staring Dowling in the eye. 

Chad groaned as he held his jaw in one hand and kept the other presses to his stomach. 

“That was excessive,” Dowling said harshly as she pulled Chad off the mat. 

“You wanted to see what we could do. Should’ve used a harder target. Do you understand we were raised on an island of villains. You fight or you die. A little school time sparring ain’t shit compared to that, Sir Charming,” Mal bowed mockingly and joined her friends who were desperately trying to look like they weren’t entertained. 

“You will each be attending a thorough psychological evaluation next. I will show you the way, but if you pull anything I won’t hesitate to do the evaluation myself. 

“Yes Miss Trunchbull,” Carlos whispered to Evie who laughed quietly into her hand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one took so long! I've had like no motivation lol. The next few chapters are gonna be kind of oddly structured cause I'm still figuring out how I want to do their psych evals but it'll probably be a separate and shorter chapter for each character to establish some of their backstory within this au. Thanks for reading!! - bryce


	4. Psych: Jay

Jay was the first one shuffled into the blank white room. It was empty aside from a metal table with a lamp and a chair on each side. An older man with dark red hair and stick-straight posture sat on the far side of the table. His eyes were cold and calculating. He scanned Jay up and down as he closed the door carefully so there was barely a sound.

“Hello, Jay Alwazir.My name is Dr. Abolli, I’m going to ask you a few questions about your past and all I ask is that you answer honestly,” Jay shrugged and took a seat.

“Whatever,”

“Okay, first question, how old are you?”

“17.”

“Any siblings?”

“No.”

“Cousins?”

“No.”

“Any family outside of your father, Jafar of Agrabah?”

“No, you didn’t exactly send his sister as companionship.”

“Any connection to your mother?”

“She died when I was 4.”

“How?”

“My dad says it was a street fight, but if you ask anyone else he killed her.”

“Oh, what do you think happened?”

“Let’s just say I don’t trust my father that much.”

“Okay, on the topic of your father, how is your relationship with him,” Jay laughed and sunk farther into his chair.

“I’m his employee who gets paid in a place to sleep.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He runs a store, I steal stuff for him to sell. If I don’t steal enough I’m punished.”

“Punished?”

“Sometimes I just have to find somewhere else to sleep for the night, sometimes I can’t put a shirt on alone for a week because the flogging left open wounds. Depends on how short I was and Jafar’s mood.”

“Do you have any scarring from these punishments?” As Dr. Abolli asked the question his face seemed to soften slightly in concern.

“Obviously,” Jay crossed his arms tight across his chest and sat up a little straighter.

“Okay then, moving on. What grade level have you achieved?”

“What?”

“You’re 17 so I assume you’re a junior in High School?”

“We don’t do school like that. We just show up for a few classes every year, no big graduation or anything. I’ve taken every physical education course and Carlos convinced me to take an invention class with him last year. He did all the work for it because I didn’t understand half of it and he’s, like, a fuckign genius.”

“So you have no formal education? Can you read and write?”

“Of course! How the hell else am I supposed to keep inventory at the store.”

“Who taught you that?”

“My father. He taught me everything that would be useful to him,” His fingers dug deeper into his biceps. 

“Well, I suppose we didn’t institute a public school system, we shouldn’t have expected much.”

“Yeah, leaving a bunch of people villains alone on an island surprisingly  _ doesn’t _ lead to a prospering infrastructure,” Dr. Abolli cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Have you ever used drugs, smoked, or drank alcohol.”

“Alcohol yeah, drugs and smoking aren’t really my thing.”

“How often do you drink?”

“A few times a month? Not that easy to get any when you don’t send that much over.”

“Why not smoke or partake in drugs?”

“Drugs are more effort than they’re worth to steal, I’d rather be sober then stabbed. Smoking is a habit you can’t possibly keep up cause there’s always a shortage so it’s just a promise of withdrawals so I just never really started.”

“Fair, any romantic history?”

“Not much romance of the Isle. I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re asking.”

“If there’s not much romance, how are you not a virgin.”

“Sex is very different than love where I come from, Doc.”

“Noted. Any particular experience you wish to mention?”

“Nah, it was all by choice so I’m kind of the outlier on sexual trauma.”

“It’s weird that you don’t have any sexual trauma?”

“I mean, the Isle has no justice system and a skewed sense of morality so stuff like that goes unchecked,” Again, the wrinkles on the doctor’s face seemed to relax in sympathy. 

“One last question, I want you to tell me a story about one of your friends when they were younger.”

“Okay, well, when me and Mal were ten, she got in a fight with this girl from one of our classes. When we were younger they tried to keep us in classes longer cause our parents wanted us to live long enough to be useful and we’d be less likely to get ourselves killed if we were at school. So this girl had insulted Mal somehow I don’t really remember how, but she wanted revenge. We spent the whole day planning out how to get her back. We stole a bunch of shit from the market. Ropes and old mouse traps and a few old pocket knives. We watched her go home after the main market closed and saw how she got home then set up our trap for the next morning. We both went home to check in without parents then snuck back out and slept on top of a roof nearby so we wouldn't miss it. Mal had found this book about this wizard kid with shitty parents. Wait, I think they were his aunt and uncle. Whatever, they, like, kept him in a closet or something and we both loved it. We traded off reading it to each other until we saw the girl walking down the street. We kneeled so she wouldn’t see us and waited till the wire tripped. It pulled her up and one of the knives sliced her arm. Nowhere that would cause massive issues, just her upper arm, by her shoulder and she was dangling by her heel. We climbed down triumphantly and we all pretended like we were serious. Like this wasn’t some childish joke and Mal was acting all superior but she kept giggling and the girl was giggling too. When we were younger we all just performed the shit our parents did like a game. We helped her down and walked to school together. Mal pulled out a bandage we’d stolen and helped her wrap her arm. It was before Mal started getting in fights for real. It was fun,” A soft smile rose across Jay’s face as he finished his story, staring at the far wall. Dr. Abolli returned his smile, but as soon as they made eye contact Jay’s arms tightened around himself again and he pulled his face back to his usual mildly-confrontational glare.

“Thank you, Jay. Have a nice day. Please tell the next of your friends to come in,” Jay made a sound of recognition before quickly exiting the room, feeling exposed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually had this written like a week ago and then didn’t have access to my computer for a while sorry!! i hope the structure works well? thank you for reading!! - bryce


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